Continuing racist abuse of Adam Goodes shows how far we still have to go

As a 70-year-old man was being frog-marched out of Etihad Stadium for racially abusing Swans players Adam Goodes and Lance Franklin on Sunday, elsewhere in the same venue Jim Wilson was sitting next to his 13-year-old son, grinding his teeth in anger.

As a Seven sports editor based in Sydney, Wilson attends more AFL - and Swans matches - than most.

Adam Goodes wears the Swans indigenous round guernsey, which was designed by his mother Lisa Sansbury. Photo: Daniel Munoz

Since that momentous Friday evening at the MCG in May last year, when Goodes called out a 13-year-old Collingwood supporter after she had called him an "ape", Wilson has noticed the booing and catcalls have intensified whenever Goodes comes near the the ball in a venue other than the SCG.

And there it was on Sunday: the same booing from the opening bounce as the Swans went about dismantling the Western Bulldogs at Etihad.

Some will argue rival fans deride Goodes because he's one of the Swans' best players. Others will claim it's because of his alleged habit of "staging" for a free kick.

Those arguments might explain some of the heckling, but they mask an ugly and sad truth.

Because it is evident that for all the bravery Goodes has displayed throughout his career - especially in the middle of the MCG last year - and continues to show in his role as Australian of the Year, an entrenched and bigoted minority exists in AFL.

Just as it does in other sports.

Just as it does in our magnificent but young country, despite the best efforts of so many.

"It is a minority of halfwits who continue to sledge a man who has led the way in the fight against racism," Wilson says of those who have continued to jeer Goodes at matches. "He's been copping it week in, week out since the MCG incident last year. He is a statesman. He is the Australian of the Year. For him to get booed like that is disrespectful, inappropriate, and a disgrace."

Vilified for being a hero? For being brave? For standing up for himself? For saying "No"?

When the MCG incident occurred last year, Goodes said he had never been hurt so much, because it had come from the mouth of a young Collingwood fan.

Yet, typical of the man, he used it as a means to further the dialogue around racism and reconciliation.

When he was racially taunted in May this year, resulting in an Essendon fan having his membership torn up, Goodes saw the silver lining: the man was ejected after other Bombers supporters heard the abhorrent barbs about Goodes and decided they weren't going to stand for it.

In other words, when they decided to be brave, too.

I spoke to Goodes late last week. Amid the monosyllabic drivel that often comes from the mouths of sportspeople who have been coached or directed from their club to say nothing, he was a breath of fresh air.

We spoke about the two racial incidents he had experienced in the last year or so. We spoke about how much they wounded him, and how critical it was for him and others to stare down racism and drag it into the light.

"To identity as being an Aboriginal person … It's something to be proud about," he said. "It's a big part of who you are. That's why those words are so hurtful, because they are cut you to your core - of who you are. They are trying to say to you that you are worth nothing, by saying things like that. It just shows you that, when you challenge them, how weak and destructive they can be, by not taking ownership of what they said."

Goodes said this not knowing that another incident was just around the corner.

These three instances of racial abuse are the ones we know of because they have occurred at games of footy.

Consider the fact that Goodes and every other indigenous Australian have copped such racism in the neck for most of their lives, whether they hear it or not.

Consider the fact that Buddy Franklin has, too.

When Franklin first arrived in Sydney and was photographed sunning himself at North Bondi, or carousing on the second level of the Beach Road Hotel like a second home, or bumping off parked cars in Rose Bay in his girlfriend's Jeep like they were rival defenders, it was easy to dismiss him as a mug.

His actions on the field since then speak for themselves, and Coleman and Brownlow medals loom.

On Monday morning, it was Franklin who fronted the media. Not Goodes. He condemned the remarks of the 70-year-old man at Etihad the night before.

"Buddy has got to be his own self," Goodes said to me when I asked if Franklin could become the same role model. "He's copped a fair whack of criticism, and I'm not quick to judge anybody. I didn't have a lot to do with Lance before he came here. But what I have seen is a person who wants to be part of something special here. He wants to be part of the Bloods culture. From what I've seen from his behaviour, he's doing everything right to have a long and fulfilling career at this football club."

Goodes's career has never just been about the football. Maybe it won't just be about the football for Franklin, too, when it's clear there is still a long way to go.